witch Posted December 14, 2005 Posted December 14, 2005 One of our 3 year old laptops has a mouse pointer that drifts across the screen and then freezes. I have spoken to Dell - they suggested reinstalling various drivers, to no avail. Eventually, after I had tried everythingI reformatted the disk and reinstalled XP. The beast was OK for about a week - and now the sod is doing it again. The antivirus is completely up to date and a scan shows nothing Having redone the whole thing - I am now at a loss and feel that people think that I don't know what I am doing! Can anyone help? 1
Ric_ Posted December 14, 2005 Posted December 14, 2005 @ITWITCH: I will assume that this laptop uses a nipple-pointer... Is the pointer actually returning to the centre position? I have seen these get bunged up with dirt. You could disable the inbuilt pointer and try a mouse. It doesn't sound like your fault - more than liely something to do with a heavy-handed user or being dropped (check the case for marks). Don't Dells come with a 3-year warranty too? 1
witch Posted December 14, 2005 Author Posted December 14, 2005 No, it is not a nipple pointer, and I am afraid that the thing does it with an external mouse as well. It is a teachers laptop and there are no scuff marks or anything on it. It is out of warranty, I'm afraid I suppose it must be a hardware fault?
paul Posted December 14, 2005 Posted December 14, 2005 Most Dell laptops of that period came with both a nipple pointer and touchpad styles, if it has the nipple disable that in control pannel. Make sure you have the correct synoptics mouse driver installed. Also try dissabling the touchpad/nipple from control pannel, and add a USB mouse. This should rule out a hardware error.
indiegirl Posted December 14, 2005 Posted December 14, 2005 Have you tried uninstalling all the mouse software? The fact that the mouse freezes suggests to me that it's software, not hardware. I've seen this before on Dells - on an Inspiron 1200 (no nipple) and on an older Cseries with nipple pointer. I remember that the Cseries was resolved by cleaning the nipple as Ric_ suggested (even though the user didn't use the nipple, it was still affecting the mouse), but for the Inspiron, I can't for the life of me remember how I stopped it... I vaguely remember at one point uninstalling all of the extra drivers and 'pointer software' that Dell bundle with it. ETA: cross-posted with Paul!
witch Posted December 19, 2005 Author Posted December 19, 2005 OK - apparently the nipple pointer was blanked off but is still hiding under there somewhere - so it might be causing a problem. How do I get the keyboard off to look? I can get the plate off with the off on button ok, but then I cant see how to get the keyboard off. Dell wont help - can anyone else? Cant see how to disable just the nipple either? Thanks for the help I still think it must be a hardware issue as the whole thing has been wiped and reloaded - with all new drivers etc - so how could it be software? Happy Christmas everybody
lionsl2005 Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 (edited) @ITWITCH: I will assume that this laptop uses a nipple-pointer... Is the pointer actually returning to the centre position? I have seen these get bunged up with dirt. You could disable the inbuilt pointer and try a mouse. It doesn't sound like your fault - more than liely something to do with a heavy-handed user or being dropped (check the case for marks). Don't Dells come with a 3-year warranty too? It happend to one of our D830. dust with the nipple point. problem sorted. Edited July 14, 2009 by lionsl2005
Jamo Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 You can test if its hardware or software based by running a Linux distro like Ubuntu's live CD. Just boot from the disk and if the mouse is OK, its software based and if its still rubbish its hardware! You could lift the keyboard and get rid of the mouse connection if its hardware? Or disable the internal mouse in device manager?
cromertech Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 used to work as dell hardware tech. still have some of the dismantling manuals. what laptop model is it. most have a couple of screws underneath labelled with a k
teejay Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 What model is it? Most of the Dell laptops have service manuals on their support website. If you do a google search for "Dell remove keyboard" it should come up with the relevant doc on the Dell support site.
Ex-MGSTech Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 Ah seen this many times, especially old Dell Lattitude 800's, it was a fault common to any laptop having one controller for both the mouse(trackpad) and keyboard. years ago it took a BIOS update and the latest drivers, sometimes this still dosen't work and a keyboard change was needed.... Hope this helps Steve
mac_shinobi Posted July 14, 2009 Posted July 14, 2009 The only other thing I can think of is if you take the top of the laptop off and check the cables are connected firmly for the track pad and keyboard.
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